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Official Pit Home Improvement/DIY thread

How easy is it to use one of those floor sanders you can rent from Lowes?

If you are talking about drum sanders, They are very good at removing the top layer from floor boards. Big question is: are your floors the right kind that can be sanded and refinished? Only real wood will stand that. "Engineered wood" laminates etc. will not. If you have prefinished floors, you will need to make sure that the material under the current finish can be refinished and look good. Don't use a drum sander on parquet. Because the grain runs in perpendicular directions, the drum sander will mess up whichever boards are perpendicular to the direction the drum is run.

There will be lots of dust to collect while you sand. After you are done sanding there will be more dust to remove from every surface in the room. Its all gotta go before you can refinish.

That said, the most important issue in using them is keeping the machine moving evenly. You want to take the same amount of surface off the whole floor. Don't want to create low spots. Also, they don't do edges. Need another machine for that.

Might want to consider what the project will cost, in material, equipment rental and time, and look at what pros will charge to do the job for you. Sand multiple times (coarse to fine) Sand the edges. stain the floor to the shade you want. Finish with protective coating (polyurethane or???) Sand (lightly) between coats.
 
If you are talking about drum sanders, They are very good at removing the top layer from floor boards. Big question is: are your floors the right kind that can be sanded and refinished? Only real wood will stand that. "Engineered wood" laminates etc. will not. If you have prefinished floors, you will need to make sure that the material under the current finish can be refinished and look good. Don't use a drum sander on parquet. Because the grain runs in perpendicular directions, the drum sander will mess up whichever boards are perpendicular to the direction the drum is run.

There will be lots of dust to collect while you sand. After you are done sanding there will be more dust to remove from every surface in the room. Its all gotta go before you can refinish.

That said, the most important issue in using them is keeping the machine moving evenly. You want to take the same amount of surface off the whole floor. Don't want to create low spots. Also, they don't do edges. Need another machine for that.

Might want to consider what the project will cost, in material, equipment rental and time, and look at what pros will charge to do the job for you. Sand multiple times (coarse to fine) Sand the edges. stain the floor to the shade you want. Finish with protective coating (polyurethane or???) Sand (lightly) between coats.

I need it to sand a new, unfinished floor. I'm putting in hardwood treads on the stairs and hardwood in the upstairs hallway. The quotes I got were around $5,000. I can get the material for around $1000. The only thing I haven't done before is the sanding.
 
I need it to sand a new, unfinished floor. I'm putting in hardwood treads on the stairs and hardwood in the upstairs hallway. The quotes I got were around $5,000. I can get the material for around $1000. The only thing I haven't done before is the sanding.

That is an extremely high quote for doing floors if the material is only $1000. Somewhere under $10.00 per square foot should be the cost. Although, stair treads are a lot higher than floor on a single level. The stairs are probably where the estimate cost goes up a lot. Much work, few square feet.

I'm sure you already considered getting prefinished hardwood for the hallway. If not, take a look online, at the big box home improvement stores and at floor stores like Lumber Liquidator. Might save some work with some additional cost.

Make sure you have good eye and breathing protection. This is a mucho dusty operation. Plan to vacuum a lot. dust will be on everything. Seal off areas you are not working in. Otherwise you will be vacuuming them too. Also, protect any heating system vents, and especially intakes. Otherwise you will be having the dust in your heating system and circulated throughout the house. Really best to do the job in weather spring/fall, usually, when you can shut the HVAC down for some hours (half a day) and not suffer too much.

For stairs, and the edges of the hallway you would use an "edger" sander, basically a heavy duty disk sander. Be prepared for a lot of hand sanding/scraping on the steps. Round sanders just don't get into square corners.

Usually proper sanding of new floors is a little easier than redoing old, as you aren't sanding to remove old finish, just doing enough to have a smooth surface for your finish. Depending on how smooth the boards are when you put them in, may only need two passes - 60 and 100 grit with the edger/drum sander and a final pass with a palm sander and 120 grit paper to smooth things down. Lots of vacuuming in between, and also best if you have dust extraction equipment (not just a bag) on the sander, connected to a cyclonic dust collector. If you go with a shop vac only, be prepared to do lots of emptying, and more importantly lots of filter cleaning.


Here is a video on refinishing stairs. http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/refinishing/sand-finish.htm Need to scroll down a bit to see it. If you are doing stairs and the hallway is small, might be able to do the whole job with just the edger, that is skip the drum if your area is small. You will be doing the edges with the edger anyway, so...

Did I mention that dust control is important, and sometimes difficult? You don't want to be breathing the sanding dust combo of silica from the sandpaper and wood fibers.

Don't know what you are planning to use as your wear surface, but polyurethane in multiple coats wears pretty well. Also, if it starts showing light wear, sometimes just a fine sanding and fresh polyurethane can restore that just finished look without lot of work.
 
Thanks a bunch!

You are welcome. I'd like to hear how it goes.

Another option might be prefinished hardwood floors. They come in some pretty nice finishes, and putting them in is little more work than putting in unfinished. The up side is that once they are in, you are pretty much done, except for molding around the edges.
 
Okay guys, need some advice. My fucking toilet won't stop running. I have an old fluidmaster valve that was in there when I moved in the house. It's the old style with the metal link to adjust the water level. It looks something like this one

45198103.jpg



So my issue is the water doesn't stop filling when the float rises up, so adjusting the link does nothing. The float is not stuck or anything, it just floats up to the appropriate level and then the water keeps filling and ends up completely submerging the float. The only way I can get it to stop is the shut the water off and then turn it right back on again, then all is fine. Any advice??
 
Okay guys, need some advice. My fucking toilet won't stop running. I have an old fluidmaster valve that was in there when I moved in the house. It's the old style with the metal link to adjust the water level. It looks something like this one

45198103.jpg



So my issue is the water doesn't stop filling when the float rises up, so adjusting the link does nothing. The float is not stuck or anything, it just floats up to the appropriate level and then the water keeps filling and ends up completely submerging the float. The only way I can get it to stop is the shut the water off and then turn it right back on again, then all is fine. Any advice??


Replace it. Not worth any more effort. If it acts as you say, the internal valve is broken. That is not fixable. New fluidmasters are prob less than $15 and take only a few minutes to install. Follow directions on the box.

Shut off water. Drain ALL water from the tank. unscrwew the nut under the tank that connects the supply line to the bottom of the fluidmaster. Check your line to see if it needs to be replaced.

Connect the supply line to the bottom of the fluidmaster using new washers etc from the kit. Don't overtighten! these do better with moderate tightness, many just require hand tightening. adjust top of F-M to fit your tank. install toilet bowl filler (the little tube). Turn on supply very slowly to check for leaks. adjust float.

I usually keep the water level lower than "recommended" by an inch or so. Also, if your bowl doesnt need the water, pinch the tube or mis-aim so not as much water goes into the bowl.

This is easy. May not even need any tools.
 
That is an extremely high quote for doing floors if the material is only $1000. Somewhere under $10.00 per square foot should be the cost. Although, stair treads are a lot higher than floor on a single level. The stairs are probably where the estimate cost goes up a lot. Much work, few square feet.

I'm sure you already considered getting prefinished hardwood for the hallway. If not, take a look online, at the big box home improvement stores and at floor stores like Lumber Liquidator. Might save some work with some additional cost.

Make sure you have good eye and breathing protection. This is a mucho dusty operation. Plan to vacuum a lot. dust will be on everything. Seal off areas you are not working in. Otherwise you will be vacuuming them too. Also, protect any heating system vents, and especially intakes. Otherwise you will be having the dust in your heating system and circulated throughout the house. Really best to do the job in weather spring/fall, usually, when you can shut the HVAC down for some hours (half a day) and not suffer too much.

For stairs, and the edges of the hallway you would use an "edger" sander, basically a heavy duty disk sander. Be prepared for a lot of hand sanding/scraping on the steps. Round sanders just don't get into square corners.

Usually proper sanding of new floors is a little easier than redoing old, as you aren't sanding to remove old finish, just doing enough to have a smooth surface for your finish. Depending on how smooth the boards are when you put them in, may only need two passes - 60 and 100 grit with the edger/drum sander and a final pass with a palm sander and 120 grit paper to smooth things down. Lots of vacuuming in between, and also best if you have dust extraction equipment (not just a bag) on the sander, connected to a cyclonic dust collector. If you go with a shop vac only, be prepared to do lots of emptying, and more importantly lots of filter cleaning.


Here is a video on refinishing stairs. http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/refinishing/sand-finish.htm Need to scroll down a bit to see it. If you are doing stairs and the hallway is small, might be able to do the whole job with just the edger, that is skip the drum if your area is small. You will be doing the edges with the edger anyway, so...

Did I mention that dust control is important, and sometimes difficult? You don't want to be breathing the sanding dust combo of silica from the sandpaper and wood fibers.

Don't know what you are planning to use as your wear surface, but polyurethane in multiple coats wears pretty well. Also, if it starts showing light wear, sometimes just a fine sanding and fresh polyurethane can restore that just finished look without lot of work.


Can't stress enough how important wearing a respirator mask is for stuff like this.
 
Replace it. Not worth any more effort. If it acts as you say, the internal valve is broken. That is not fixable. New fluidmasters are prob less than $15 and take only a few minutes to install. Follow directions on the box.

Shut off water. Drain ALL water from the tank. unscrwew the nut under the tank that connects the supply line to the bottom of the fluidmaster. Check your line to see if it needs to be replaced.

Connect the supply line to the bottom of the fluidmaster using new washers etc from the kit. Don't overtighten! these do better with moderate tightness, many just require hand tightening. adjust top of F-M to fit your tank. install toilet bowl filler (the little tube). Turn on supply very slowly to check for leaks. adjust float.

I usually keep the water level lower than "recommended" by an inch or so. Also, if your bowl doesnt need the water, pinch the tube or mis-aim so not as much water goes into the bowl.

This is easy. May not even need any tools.

Dude. Thanks. Super easy and like 8 bucks.
 
Yeah the deal with toilets is the inner workings are so cheap and easy to replace yourself, when in doubt replace it.
 
ok...

time for some updates.

some friends came out to join us paint this weekend, and we were able to knock out the exterior paint in a weekend after my dad prepped and primed. the really sweet part is we got the paint for free because of a paint recycling program in the county. we just paid for the white and primer. it was the color we were looking for too which was especially dope.

i'd previously busted out a shitty landing and put in pavers. we also found some rock on the property and planted some succulents cuttings a gardener friend gave us.

still need to replace the roof and deck (two things we're trying to find contractors for, but are having trouble finding labor).

before:

20150118_164626.jpg


during:

20150131_163918.jpg


after:

15%2B-%2B13


the inside is coming along nicely. we still have some small things: light fixtures, painting a hallway where there's a small leak from the roof, some baseboards still need to be installed, etc. i need some interior pics to post, though. won't be back for a few weeks, but i wanted to post these now. i am PUMPED.
 
looks great phan. what's the deal with the roof?
 
the inside is coming along nicely. we still have some small things: light fixtures, painting a hallway where there's a small leak from the roof, some baseboards still need to be installed, etc. i need some interior pics to post, though. won't be back for a few weeks, but i wanted to post these now. i am PUMPED.

looks great phan. what's the deal with the roof?

Love the photos! looks like a great place.

You really should make sure your roof is tight before you do your interior fixes. If your tarps blow off, you could have a lot of water damage inside.

That roof might work as a DIY project. Doesn't look too steep to stand on. Assuming the roof decking is sound and in place Shingles, hammer, roofing nails, flashing, sealant. You have three separate areas and it doesn't look like there are any tricky valleys etc. to work.

Deck should be easier than roof. It looks like it is just off the ground a few feet. If you just need to replace the existing walking surface and not the framing and/or support posts it is pretty easy. Posts and framing are more work. Think long and hard before you use anything other than wood for the walking surface. "Composite" deck boards get really hot in the sun.
 
Love the photos! looks like a great place.

You really should make sure your roof is tight before you do your interior fixes. If your tarps blow off, you could have a lot of water damage inside.

That roof might work as a DIY project. Doesn't look too steep to stand on. Assuming the roof decking is sound and in place Shingles, hammer, roofing nails, flashing, sealant. You have three separate areas and it doesn't look like there are any tricky valleys etc. to work.

Deck should be easier than roof. It looks like it is just off the ground a few feet. If you just need to replace the existing walking surface and not the framing and/or support posts it is pretty easy. Posts and framing are more work. Think long and hard before you use anything other than wood for the walking surface. "Composite" deck boards get really hot in the sun.

fortunately/unfortunately, in cali rain is few and far between and getting to the point of the year where it's non-existent. the tarps are sufficient for what we've had so far. neither myself or my dad are really that interested in doing it ourselves. we've done roofs before and it sucks. the deck we're paying $20 an hour for the labor with a guy that's good, so that seemed worth it to save us some time. we're going redwood not composite for it.
 
Ugh, spent last night tearing up and replacing close to 200 sq foot of laminate flooring. It was installed Saturday, and after an hours long argument over the technique and spacing, and it was put down incorrectly. I installed the hardwoods in my house but had never worked with laminate, so I deferred to our supposed "expert" who had put down multiple laminate floors over the years. He led the crew, and put it down incorrectly with the breaks only 4-6" apart, so it showed every bit of the unevenness of the floor. Luckily I saw it and was able to fix it before they got the whole thing down, but I'm still pretty annoyed by it all. Other than that annoyance, the floor looks really good. As I said earlier, its my first experience with a floating floor. I can say though, I prefer installing true hardwoods.
 
Ugh, spent last night tearing up and replacing close to 200 sq foot of laminate flooring. It was installed Saturday, and after an hours long argument over the technique and spacing, and it was put down incorrectly. I installed the hardwoods in my house but had never worked with laminate, so I deferred to our supposed "expert" who had put down multiple laminate floors over the years. He led the crew, and put it down incorrectly with the breaks only 4-6" apart, so it showed every bit of the unevenness of the floor. Luckily I saw it and was able to fix it before they got the whole thing down, but I'm still pretty annoyed by it all. Other than that annoyance, the floor looks really good. As I said earlier, its my first experience with a floating floor. I can say though, I prefer installing true hardwoods.


I feel your pain. Glad you caught the screw up before it became a real problem. Really annoying when so called "experts" refuse to even follow the basic directions on the box. Your experience also shows the importance of trying to have whatever subfloor surface you have be as even as possible. Floated laminate can be a really nice floor if put down correctly, and can be the only really nice wood look floor in some circumstances.
 
We got the flooring for a steal. Costco had the flooring for $1.98 a sq foot, and then there was a 25% off manufacturer's rebate as well. The laminate is great quality and is 10mm thick, so it's nice and sturdy. Not bad for something that ended up being $1.50 a sq foot.
 
We got the flooring for a steal. Costco had the flooring for $1.98 a sq foot, and then there was a 25% off manufacturer's rebate as well. The laminate is great quality and is 10mm thick, so it's nice and sturdy. Not bad for something that ended up being $1.50 a sq foot.

You sure you didn't get that lumber liquidators formaldehyde wood?
 
Ugh, spent last night tearing up and replacing close to 200 sq foot of laminate flooring. It was installed Saturday, and after an hours long argument over the technique and spacing, and it was put down incorrectly. I installed the hardwoods in my house but had never worked with laminate, so I deferred to our supposed "expert" who had put down multiple laminate floors over the years. He led the crew, and put it down incorrectly with the breaks only 4-6" apart, so it showed every bit of the unevenness of the floor. Luckily I saw it and was able to fix it before they got the whole thing down, but I'm still pretty annoyed by it all. Other than that annoyance, the floor looks really good. As I said earlier, its my first experience with a floating floor. I can say though, I prefer installing true hardwoods.

What room did you do this in? Are you replacing the bamboo in your main level?
 
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